Despite the strange lead-up to the creation of Diamond Rings, John O'Regan has managed to confound everyone expectations with the release of Special Affections. Conceived during a stint in a Toronto hospital, he worked through the time there battling Crohn's disease and writing new songs on guitar and keyboard. And from these songs, Diamond Rings was born, a far cry from his usual time spent in the post-punk band The D'Urbervilles. But the electro-glam musings of a rocker's side-project would generally be the last-ditch effort of someone trying desperately to hang on to some sort of notoriety, but thankfully, this is not the case for Diamond Rings. Between the classic piano, ballad-y opener "Play By Heart" and the so-hummable-it's-criminal closer "All Yr Songs",O'Regan manages to encapsulate all those hoarded fantasies of kids wanting to put on eyeliner and sing along with Bowie. The songs here run the usual dance-pop gamut but they'll constantly flip through the course of each track and show you something that was hidden, something that was totally unexpected. And it's here that Diamond Rings prove their meddle beyond the novelty of their own creation, they are a legitimate band and one that may manage to eclipse O'Regan's daytime job in The D'Urbervilles. And on the strength of this debut, that may happen sooner than he expected, or wanted.
Tracklisting:
01. Play By Heart
02. Wait & See
03. On Our Own
04. You & Me
05. Give It Up
06. Pre-Owned Heart
07. Something Else (listen to the mp3 below)
08. You Oughta Know
09. It's Not My Party
10. All Yr Songs
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